I live in a rural area of Scotland, Openreach recently installed a fiber optic cable in the area, the cable goes past my house and all the other houses.
A lot of people in houses not very far from me can order fiber to premises, but in areas around my address it is still listed as unavailable. The people who are having it installed are further along the cable than me.
Do you think it is possible BT accidentally haven't updated their system to take orders from our area? It seems very strange that other houses can and the same cable passes all the houses.
it is openreach who update the dslchecker not BT
if you are a bt broadband customer then enter your phone number and post results remember delete number
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
Below are the results for my house and a house that is 250m from my house further away from the exchange, the fiber optic cable passes in front of our houses, I can't understand why they can order and we can't?
The results for my house:
The house near me:
I've been speaking to openreach for almost a month (only had 3 replies they take ages to reply), they say I can't order fiber but can't explain why.
The fiber runs through my village from the Dunvegan exchange to the Glendale exchange, they say it's because of the Dunvegan exchange I'm listed as being on I can't order and that is final I can't order.
But as shown in the screenshots someone near me also as listed being on the Dunvegan exchange can order, we have the same cable passing our houses and have boxes next our homes where we can connect to the fiber.
How is it possible I can't order?
They have given me a kind of 'computer says no' answer without explaining why people near me can order but I can't. I'm 99% certain it is a problem with how they classify properties, but it's frustrating they won't investigate it.
If you have been in contact with openreach and they constantly tell you FTTP is not available at your address then there is nothing you can do to get it installed
A neighbour 250m away is not a close neighbour
They installed the fiber optic cable through the village earlier this year, there are around 12 properties who are listed as being unable to connect when they have a fiber optic box next their homes which has access to the same cable everyone else in my area is connecting to.
They said to me:
"One option is to consider getting together with neighbours or local community group and raising the money to help build the network yourself. We offer a community fibre partnership scheme where we work with local communities to find a fibre solution. We cannot always guarantee this will be feasible but we would be willing to look at it if you were interested. "
It might a similar question to "how long is a piece of rope", but how many homes can connect to a fiber optic cable in one area?
The problem is they won't say why we can't connect to the existing cable or what upgrades would need to be made to connect to it.
I would understand if they said to me 'sorry there is not enough capacity on the existing cable' or 'the exchange in Dunvegan needs upgraded', but they are just saying no without explaining what needs done.
I'm thinking of writing to a local politician to try and get more traction.
Use the enquiry form on this website (near the bottom). https://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/
Openreach got back back to me with more info, they said:
"In order to have a viable FTTP fibre service your home needs to be within 150m of a piece of equipment called a Connectorised Block Terminal (CBT) - you are approximately 237m away. One of the reasons we keep suggesting you contact the Community Team is that they could look into the possibility of installing another CBT closer to your home - they would be able to advise costs etc. With fibre you cannot just cut into cables that may be running past your home."
They installed a cabinet to access the fiber next my house, and all the other houses in our village who also can't order, presumably we just need to try and get someone to install CBTs in these cabinets and we can order.